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First UK drive: Smart Fortwo 90hp. Image by Richard Pardon.

First UK drive: Smart Fortwo 90hp
New Smart Fortwo still unique proposition on the UK market.

   



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Smart Fortwo

3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5

With a tasteful and vibrant interior, reasonably fun driving manners and decent levels of specification, the new Smart Fortwo should find plenty of buyers here in the UK. However, just because the 90hp engine is the more powerful variant offered, it doesn't necessarily mean it's the best choice.

Test Car Specifications

Model tested: Smart Fortwo Prime 90hp
Pricing: Fortwo range starts from £11,125; Prime 90hp from £12,815
Engine: 0.9-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol
Transmission: rear-wheel drive, five-speed manual transmission
Body style: three-door hatchback
CO2 emissions: 97g/km (VED Band A, £0 annually)
Combined economy: 67.3mpg
Top speed: 96mph
0-62mph: 10.4 seconds
Power: 90hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 135Nm at 2,500rpm

What's this?

The all-new Smart Fortwo, a car that shares a lot of its make-up with the current Renault Twingo, but is recognisably an evolution of the Smart City Coupé that took the motoring world by surprise back in 1998. So, the Tridion safety cell is still in place, it's still a super-short two-seater and it's still part of the Mercedes group, meaning it carries a fairly hefty price tag for something that's about half the size of anything from the B-segment.

The looks are going to split opinion, because some people will love it and others... won't. We count ourselves in the latter camp, as the Smart looks like one of those knock-off toy cars made in China; the ones where the manufacturer hasn't got the official rights to create a 'proper' replica model, so it has to distend the looks slightly to avoid copyright issues. The Fortwo's chin seems to be too bloated in relation to the narrower passenger compartment, while at the rear it has succumbed to the same 'massive light clusters' affliction that has spoiled the current generation MINI. Still, it can be had in a variety of eye-catching colours and the Tridion safety cell provides a nice visual flourish; it's better in a dark colour, such as matt finish Titania Grey. Plenty of people will find it cute, of that we have no doubt.

The interior is much, much better, with a real quality feeling and plenty of character, yet it's not too in-yer-face and try-hard. Everything feels top-notch, there's loads of space (even for larger people) and the boot can take a couple of suitcases. Provided they're quite small. Better still, the Smart's major Achilles' heel - its cruddy automated gearbox - has been consigned to the bin, replaced with a pleasant five-speed manual or the option of a six-speed dual-clutch auto (on the 1.0-litre 71hp model only, for now), while it's pretty well specified to compensate for the expense. Climate control, 15-inch alloys, cruise control, a multifunction steering wheel, a 3.5-inch TFT display in the instrument cluster and ESP with Crosswind Assist are all standard on even entry-level Passion models, with Prime, Proxy and Edition #1 versions cramming even more toys into the Fortwo's cosy cabin.

How does it drive?

Pretty well, actually. If you're imagining that a tiny Tridion-celled hamster ball on wheels will be a frenetic, alarming drive, you're very wrong. The Fortwo puts on a great pretence of being a much bigger car than it is, an illusion that is only shattered when you look over your shoulder and see the rear windscreen about a foot behind you. The engine is subdued, considering it is practically underneath the occupants, while there's a pleasing precision to all the major controls (save the throttle, which we'll come to shortly) that makes day-to-day driving relaxed. It's perfectly capable on motorways and dual carriageways, while the new manual gearbox is a delight compared to what's gone before. Oh, and it has a ludicrously small turning circle, which allowed Smart's PR team to start our test drive on the first floor of the Baltic Mill building in Gateshead; a sharp turn into a lift big enough to transport the Fortwo to the outside world proved no drama, so it should never struggle to manoeuvre around car parks.

There are problems, though. With a wheelbase shorter than the stubby firing finger of Lord Sugar - and the fact your backside is perched almost on the rear axle - the Smart's ride isn't the greatest. If the roads are smooth and you're doing a decent pace (say, 50mph and above) then the damping is near spot on. However, on crumbling roads and - more pertinently - around UK city streets, the Fortwo gets a bit fidgety. There's also quite a lot of tyre roar and the door handles generate wind turbulence at motorway speeds, while the steering is direct and weighty but lacking feel. This leads to an odd moment in quicker cornering where you're never quite sure if the front end has hooked itself up to the tarmac.

Mind you, as most Smarts will be urban creatures, the fact the Fortwo can't rip up a moorland road isn't a huge problem. The bigger issue with this car is the turbocharged 0.9-litre engine. As we found with its cousin, the Renault Twingo, the normally aspirated, 1.0-litre triple with 71hp is more pleasant to drive, because there's an unusual two-stage feeling to the turbocharged car's throttle pedal that sometimes makes cut-and-thrust city driving a jerky affair. It's as if the turbo doesn't quite spool properly, so you open the taps further and suddenly the boost kicks in, propelling you forward like a nervous learner. As the Fortwo only weighs 880kg in manual trim and therefore doesn't need a great deal of oomph, we'd recommend the non-turbo 1.0 over the 0.9, purely for the crisp linearity of its accelerator.

Verdict

If you like the divisive exterior styling, and you also like the idea of driving a car as short as the Fortwo (it's exactly the same length at 2,695mm as the preceding model), then the Smart has plenty of charm. We'd advise a lower trim level with a few choice options and the 1.0-litre normally aspirated engine, as that will give you a distinctive city car that drives sweetly and has a lovely interior - provided you only ever want to transport one passenger who travels light. It's the Smart concept polished and evolved for 2015, and there's really very little else like it out there.

3 3 3 3 3 Exterior Design

4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 Interior Ambience

4 4 4 4 4 Passenger Space

3 3 3 3 3 Luggage Space

4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 Safety

4 4 4 4 4 Comfort

3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 Driving Dynamics

3 3 3 3 3 Powertrain


Matt Robinson - 13 Feb 2015



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2015 Smart Fortwo. Image by Richard Pardon.
 

2015 Smart Fortwo. Image by Richard Pardon.
 

2015 Smart Fortwo. Image by Richard Pardon.
 

2015 Smart Fortwo. Image by Richard Pardon.
 

2015 Smart Fortwo. Image by Richard Pardon.
 

2015 Smart Fortwo. Image by Richard Pardon.
 

2015 Smart Fortwo. Image by Richard Pardon.
 

2015 Smart Fortwo. Image by Richard Pardon.
 






 

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